This invention relates to portable coolers or insulated ice chests, and, more particularly, to a cooler insert assembly for maintaining fishing bait in a very cold state while keeping it dry over melting ice.
Fishing bait such as small fish are often rigged in advance with hooks and leaders ready for use. They must be ready for use, yet must be stored for prolonged periods prior to use. They are best stored at, or close to, the temperature of melting ice (0.degree. C.). They must also be kept dry. They are sometimes wrapped and dropped onto the ice in a cooler for cold storage. However the wrappings may leak and the packages get lost in the water and ice. Wrapping and unwrapping the bait is awkward and time consuming.
Spahr in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,185 discloses a flat grid rack that rests on the melting ice. It has no sides. It is for use with crushed ice to pack it down flat and slow the melting. With a rocking boat and block ice, the rack would tilt and the items stored thereon would slide off. As the ice melted, rack and items would be submerged or floating. Soggy bait rapidly deteriorates.
Applicants' U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,165 discloses a perforated panel without sides and with downwardly extending legs to maintain the panel at a fixed height in a cooler. As the ice melts, the panel gets farther from the ice.
Jarvis, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,184 also teaches a grid platform without sides positioned at a fixed elevation in the cooler by downwardly directed legs. Food stored on the platform is cooled by ice on the platform. Melt water drains through the grid and collects at the bottom of the cooler to cool beverage cans. Cans are accessed by a door in the platform.
It would be advantageous to provide a tray with sides and a flat bottom for ease in loading and unloading bait. It would be useful to provide such a tray that would rest upon the ice as it melted, yet would not descend into the melt water to keep the tray contents from immersion.